That looks the biz. Definitely your ticket. Might be tricky learning to dail it in while your starting from scratch. I found a front strap pretty helpful and dropped it soon after getting the initial foiling bit. You cant go too far wrong for those first two sessions where your really mostly surface riding, and from there you have the skills to figure it out. Get an idea from the brand you modeled your foil from.

Are you going with the board pictured? It looks thin, or did you lay that up with carbon too?

Last edited by Starsky on Thu Oct 06, 2016 10:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I used the magic formula from Starsky: 37cm between rear strap insert and front bolts for mast. With back foot placement just behind the mast rear bolts. Seemed to work well on mine.

I can't get my head around strapless, so I went with 2 foot hooks. Front one didn't feel right, so I've gone with one front strap (very loose) and a rear foot hook. This allows moving back foot forward if wanted.

PS are you sure that's a hammerhead and not a flame?

PPS will be stoked to see footage of your riding this in decent size surf....seems like you are set up better than most to chase it!

juandesooka wrote:
PS are you sure that's a hammerhead and not a flame?

Its a flaming hammerhead to be exact!...

Starsky wrote:

Are you going with the board pictured? It looks thin, or did you lay that up with carbon too?

Yep. Only as a short term measure. Its not ideal as its heavy and a bit flexible. If its complete crap i'll bolt it too my mutant. But that is less desirable as its my daily driver for when the wind is up.

I took your advice. There's some grunt in the connection points between mast, fuse and mounting plate. The last 2 layups were single piece carbon mounting plate/mast then wrap around the fuse. with some extra hidden db carbon gussets at the fillets.

The fuse/frontwing connections are 4 x 8mm bolts. Its solid and stiff.

Looks good, thanks for sharing your build, nice tools, looks like you are a craftsman!
Like the fridge pump and old gas bottle volume suck set up for vac sack!
Did you 45° some carbon on your Strut and fuse?
Just a few questions for myself and other DIYers.
How thick was bamboo core before layup, profiles shaped, and layers and weight of carbon used please.
F wing
R wing
Fuse
Strut
Board plate
What method did you use to seal vac sac? How much vacuum? Controller?
What brand and mark is your digi level and do you think it is sensitive and accurate enough (+,- .25°) as I search for a better one?
Just my thoughts.
8 mm hardware is over kill, 6 plenty.
Off set pattern F wing to fuse 4 hole attachment (thanks Alpine) very good!
Set up weight no problem, better more for strength than less with breakage. Later on once learned for sure lighter feels and flies better.
Board seems WAY to thin, have you tested its length wise flex WITHOUT the T bar of course by supporting the ends and standing on it?
And once again as I have said for years now....
A front foot hook is simply the SAFEST (other than strapless)
way to learn to fly (and into the future for many) by providing correct front foot placement and just enough board control for water start yet allowing painless crash escape!
R H

I've had four sessions strapless. It's tough when the wind is light, even when you know what to expect. It's easier when there's wind to push you onto the board and keep it under control with your feet as you dive the kite.

If you use a single front strap, set as loose as possible, it'll be much easier. Much, much easier!

revhed wrote:Looks good, thanks for sharing your build, nice tools, looks like you are a craftsman!
Like the fridge pump and old gas bottle volume suck set up for vac sack!
Did you 45° some carbon on your Strut and fuse?
Just a few questions for myself and other DIYers.
How thick was bamboo core before layup, profiles shaped, and layers and weight of carbon used please.
F wing
R wing
Fuse
Strut
Board plate
What method did you use to seal vac sac? How much vacuum? Controller?
What brand and mark is your digi level and do you think it is sensitive and accurate enough (+,- .25°) as I search for a better one?
Just my thoughts.
8 mm hardware is over kill, 6 plenty.
Off set pattern F wing to fuse 4 hole attachment (thanks Alpine) very good!
Set up weight no problem, better more for strength than less with breakage. Later on once learned for sure lighter feels and flies better.
Board seems WAY to thin, have you tested its length wise flex WITHOUT the T bar of course by supporting the ends and standing on it?
And once again as I have said for years now....
A front foot hook is simply the SAFEST (other than strapless)
way to learn to fly (and into the future for many) by providing correct front foot placement and just enough board control for water start yet allowing painless crash escape!
R H

bamboo core was
mast 10mm now 14mm
fuse I didn't measure it after final shaping,,,, so can't tell.
front wind 12.5mm prior 2 shaping. now 13.5
rear 10mm now 11mm.

Both front and read wing had 200gm uni and 200gm twill on both sides.

The fuse has 400 uni, 400 twill. top and bottom with a wrap around double.

The mast has 800gm uni and 800gm twill. plus additional 400 db and 800 uni around the fuse/mast/topplate fillets.

on the mast I have layers at 0,45, 90 and mayb 15 degrees.

My board is way to thing and flexible. Its only a temporary measure. If the board is a complete failure for hf i'll install it on my mutant.
8mm bolts are overkill. But hopefully less likely to be damaged when I hit a boulder.

For the vac bag I run as high vacuum as possible for initial suck down then have a preset switch at 1/2" an atmosphere. I made my own bags by buying plastic role from the hardware shop then sealing the edges with a soldering iron and solid straight edge.